When to Pull the Throttle to Completely Idle

4 Answers

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   Kevin Morisette on Dec 08, 2015

   The FAA recommends a stabilized approach using power until the flare, but the way your CFI is teaching is good in case you have an engine-out scenario. I would recommend being able to fly it either way.

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   Nibake on Dec 08, 2015

   Unfortunately there may not be a “consistent landing technique [you] can use every time.” You are, however, very right to want to fly a stabilized approach. Just looking at the title of your question there are about as many answers as there are CFIs. It sounds like you might be training at an FBO or similar where there isn’t standardization? While your approach isn’t stabilized, there is something to be said for what your CFI is doing. If he/she likes landing on a runway more than in pine trees, using a high glideslipe and a descent at idle power will assure that you are already in gliding distant should the engine fail, and it is hard to argue that he/she should scrap that for a 3 degree glideslope that will put you out of power of glide range in most small single engine airplanes with even a little headwind. But stabilized approaches are safer in that they are more consistent and make learning to round out/flare easier, as you mentioned. While it might seem frustrating at the time, you can certainly adjust your technique down the road and build on the skills you already have. In my opinion it’s not enough to give up on your CFI, and even if he/she doesn’t want to change the method, you can have a discussion about it and perhaps ask to be taught both ways. Beyond that there is an infinite combination of options regarding traffic patterns, i.e. when to add flaps, when to change airspeeds, etc. At this point I recommend thinking critically about each step and what is advantageous and safe. Otherwise, the important thing is being consistent with the technique you are using. I hope this is of some help.

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   John Stevens on Dec 08, 2015

   Thank you very much for your input. I really appreciate it! I will follow your advice – I will ask my CFI if I can be taught the standard power-on, normal glideslope final approach in addition to what I am being currently taught.

   I’m not too sure if there is standardization with the flight school – it is a Part 141 Flight school with a standardized written curriculum but I have not yet met any of the other flight instructors to detect any differences with my current CFI

   I’ve scanned through the other questions on this web forum and some have pointed out that with the throttle idle, past the numbers, the student pilot often mistakes looking directly at the ground at the nose – I can certainly relate to that since my first impulse when we’re sinking fast, nose low is to pull up prematurely – leading to ballooning and unstable final approaches in the remaining seconds before the roundout. Next time we fly, I’ll try to look further up the runway. Still, it might be a bit of trial and error, to find out the precise time/altitude/sight picture when to transition to the roundout.

   My CFI mentions that one day it will just click and I will nail the landings. Right now, at 20 hours flight time, I am still waiting for verbal cues when to start pulling/ transitioning for the roundout.

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   John D Collins on Dec 12, 2015

   Both techniques are best when the aircraft is in a stabilized approach. A stabilized approach just means that you are using a constant glide angle to the runway and only needing small pitch changes to keep the aim point the same. For turbojet aircraft there are often other criteria, such as a maximum descent rate below 1000 feet per minute, a three degree descent angle, configured for landing, power set to the appropriate value. But for most training aircraft, power off will not exceed any of these limits. A 3 degree limit is artificial and requires power in almost all light aircraft to maintain this descent angle. Power off can be double that figure, particularly with full flaps.

   A friend of mine was taught by his instructor to always use power off approaches to the runway. He learned to fly in a high performance Bonanza. His instructor was ex military and told him that if he mastered this technique, then if there was ever and emergency and the engine quit, the emergency landing would be like all the others and nothing special. Later on after he obtained his private pilot licence, he would routinely win all spot landing contests and consistently used the least runway.

   You should be able to master both techniques. It is probably more difficult to master the power off to the runway method, but it may make you a better pilot.

   As far as learning when to start your flare and avoid the balloon effect, good and proper airspeed control is key. When you arrive over the runway, break the flare maneuver up into smaller increments of pitch change, in other words begin your flare higher but only increase your pitch enough to reduce your descent rate to the runway. As you get closer to the ground, continue to make smaller reductions in your rate of descent until you are just a few feet above the runway. Then simply prevent the aircraft from sinking further by arresting the inevitable descent that will occur with further pitch up. Repeat this process for each subsequent sinking. Eventually the ground will intervene and you will be nose high with your main wheels rolling on the runway.

   I use a knee bend technique to demonstrate the sinking ballooning sensation you see in your peripheral vision. Stand on the tarmac and look towards the horizon. Then bend your knees and observe the effect on your peripheral vision. That is what sinking looks like. Stand up and observe the effect on your peripheral vision. That is what balooning looks like. These effects are easy to see even though the height of your head only moves a little over a foot in the vertical.

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